See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy SOPHIA STANFORD, NEWS REPORTER Published: 18:01 BST, 7 September 2026 | Updated: 20:45 BST, 7 September 2026
A teenager who was lured on Snapchat with a free holiday to Thailand has been jailed after he was found with £600,000 worth of cannabis in his luggage.Noah Barker, 19, was recruited on social media by a crime group to smuggle more than 20kg of cannabis from Bangkok but was caught upon arrival in Heathrow Airport on July 10.He was sentenced to three years and eight months behind bars for smuggling Class B drugs and violent disorder at Southampton Crown Court on Friday. The drug smuggler, of Derby Road in Southampton, was first contacted on Snapchat by a crime group and offered a free trip to Thailand, alongside promises of payment, if he brought something back.He told investigators after his arrest that he knew the two suitcases he was given to transport back to the UK which held 41 vacuum-sealed packages contained either cannabis or cocaine. Indeed, Barker told Border Force officers 'it is cannabis' when questioned about the contents of his suitcase when he was stopped at arrivals in Heathrow.Barker, who is unemployed and a cannabis-smoker, never received the money he was promised by the crime group. The teen admitted to smuggling cannabis, for which he received 16 months behind bars. Noah Barker, 19, was recruited on Snapchat to smuggle nearly 20kg of cannabis from Bangkok but was caught upon arrival in Heathrow Airport on July 10 He told investigators after his arrest that he knew the two suitcases he was given to transport back to the UK which held 41 vacuum-sealed packages contained either cannabis or cocaineThe remaining two years and four months of his sentence were given for his violent disorder charge based on a Hampshire Police investigation relating to the Henry Nowak protests on June 2.The National Crime Agency (NCA) senior investigating officer Mark Abbott said: 'Like other cannabis smugglers, Barker was motivated by money. He knew he was doing something illegal and fraught with danger but did it anyway.'As well as a life-changing criminal conviction, couriers' future career and travel prospects can be wrecked by smuggling drugs.'We will continue to work with partners at Border Force and in Thailand to combat the smuggling of cannabis to the UK.'The NCA recently announced a new crackdown on cannabis smuggling with Thai authorities alongside a social media campaign to deter Brits tempted by crime organisations to smuggle drugs.According to the NCA, there has been an 'explosion' in the number of couriers trying to smuggle cannabis into Britain over the last three years.In 2023, only 142 cannabis smugglers were caught arriving into the country by plane. However the following year this number skyrocketed to 801 – representing a 464 per cent increase in the space of 12 months.In 2025, that figure continued to rise to 976 – and this year is 'on track to be even worse', according to the NCA, as 600 mules were arrested at UK airports in the first six months of the year alone.Thai authorities have also introduced new fines in July for those caught smuggling cannabis, with mules having to pay £680 per kilogram of the drug.The 'average' smuggler is found with around 26kg, making a typical fine at a value of almost £18,000. A two-year prison sentence is given to those who cannot pay. Earlier this year, a Thai drug boss revealed how her gang grooms 'young and dumb' Brits to smuggle cannabis from Southeast Asia to the UK and ruthlessly threatens them.The drug mule recruiter 'weekly' flies broke young people to Thailand to collect 'suitcases' of marijuana to bring them back home.They are promised a 'quick' payout and groomed with a free holiday before the dangerous reality of what they are doing sets in, per the Channel 4 documentary Untold: Inside Thailand's British Drug Gangs.The Daily Mail has approached Snapchat for comment.
